Famous for her fierce shredding on an eight-string Strandberg, Sarah Longfieldaims for the middle ground on her forthcoming album.
BY ANDREW DALY PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEREK SAMPSON
SARAH LONGFIELD HAS come a long way. After starting as an unintentional YouTuber in 2007 — when social media was far from being a breeding ground for young guitarists — she oscillates today between sharing stages with John 5 and Nita Strauss (in 2021 and 2023, respectively) and getting name-checked by Steve Vai after attending his Vai Academy 7.0.
“I was surprised and grateful to be invited to the Vai Academy this year,” Longfield tells Guitar Player. “Steve is an incredible player who has so much wisdom to share on guitars, as well as the music industry overall. I left feeling incredibly inspired. It was so much fun to hang out with the other great guitarists and witness their unique style and approaches.”
As for wisdom and style, Longfield has both in spades. After reeling off three impressive albums — Collapse//Expand (2017), Disparity (2018), and SUM (2019) — and several EPs, she found herself cast in the “fiercest shredder in the world” category. Since making the jump from YouTube to the self-produced, upper-echelon indie-metal pool, she’s become known for her two-handed tapping style and extensive use of her multicolored signature Strandberg Boden NX 8 eight-string, leading to tours with Marty Friedman, Angel Vivaldi and Polyphia.
Interestingly, though, since taking time away to pursue her college degree, Longfield’s approach to instrumental music has changed. “I’ve chilled out,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong — I still love shredding, playing fast, and challenging music, and that’s not totally going away, but this new set of songs I’m working on isn’t really that now. I’ve realized that I don’t actually love listening to most instrumental guitar music, so I’ve been trying to find a middle ground between stuff that is both fun to play and easy to listen to.”
As for what’s next for Longfield, she has a yet-to-be-named — and apparently very different-sounding — record written, recorded and in the mixing stage. It’s her first new solo music in four years and her first new music since she and Eric Collier released the single “Glimpse of the Finale” under the name Chrome Coda last November.
Longfield punts when asked when the record will drop, although she’s excited, even if she doesn’t entirely understand where she’s pulling inspiration from. “It’s so har
